CRUDE

CRUDE

The Film Chevron Doesn't Want You To See

We would like to suggest that you take the opportunity to watch the award winning documentary " CRUDE ". Very important for Ecuador it documents well, the simple life of the people here in the Amazon and has received many awards.

A new award-winning documentary about the struggle over Chevron's massive contamination of the Ecuadorian Amazon is now premiering in New York, followed by runs in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and 36 more cities across North America.

The film is a balanced look at all sides of this monumental case in which you can decide for yourself how much responsibility Chevron bears for the ecological and public health crisis in the Ecuadorian Amazon. There is a growing grassroots coalition of environmental, human rights, and social justice organizations to keep the issues raised in the film in the public spotlight.

Three years in the making by acclaimed filmmaker Joe Berlinger (Brother's Keeper, Paradise Lost, and Metallica: Some Kind of Monster), CRUDE chronicles the epic battle to hold oil giant Chevron (formerly Texaco) accountable for its systematic contamination of the Ecuadorian Amazon – an environmental tragedy experts call the "Amazon Chernobyl," and believe is the worst case of oil-related contamination on the planet.

CRUDE centers on a landmark lawsuit filed by the indigenous and campesino communities in Ecuador who continue to suffer a severe public health crisis caused by Chevron's contamination. CRUDE is a highstakes David vs. Goliath legal drama with 30,000 Amazon rainforest dwellers facing down the 5th largest corporation in the world. Texaco – which merged with Chevron in 2001 – deliberately dumped more than 18 billion gallons of toxic wastewater into Amazon waterways and abandoned more than 900 unlined waste pits filled with oil sludge. Indigenous groups in the area say Chevron's contamination has decimated their traditional lifestyles and caused an outbreak of cancer, leukemia, birth defects, and other health problems never before seen in the rainforest.

The trial documented in CRUDE is nearing an end, with Chevron facing a potential $27 billion damages claim that would be enforceable in the United States, according to lawyers for the plaintiffs.

"With the release of the film Crude, Chevron goes on trial in the court of public opinion. Despite Chevron's current attempts to confuse the public with misinformation and obstruct justice in Ecuador, CRUDE allows the audience to be the judge and decide for themselves how much responsibility Chevron bears for the ecological and public health crisis in the Ecuadorian Amazon," said Mitchell Anderson, Corporate Accountability Campaigner for the Clean Up Ecuador Campaign.

Amazon Watch works to protect the rainforest and advance the rights of indigenous peoples in the Amazon Basin. They partner with indigenous and environmental organizations in campaigns for human rights, corporate accountability and the preservation of the Amazon's ecological systems.

The 2002 campaign's three principal demands of Chevron are that the company:

• Fund and implement a major environmental clean-up
• Compensate local communities for health and environmental impacts
• Provide affected communities with real access to health care and potable water

For the film's trailer: http://chevrontoxic o.com/crude

For more information about the film Crude, visit www.crudethemovie.com